Out of the Office, Into the Fire? Microsoft’s Profitability Paradox

Profit has never been a problem for Microsoft. PC operating systems became synonymous with Windows decades ago, while products like Excel, PowerPoint, and Dynamics have helped keep the Redmond company's coffers full. But increasing pressure from users for cross-platform tools and flexible applications puts the technology giant at a crossroads since, according to a recent Seeking Alpha article, their stock is on a one-year decline. It's well below competitor Google, but closing in on Apple, which begs the question - where do they grow from here?

What's the Word? Probably not "iPad"

There's latent value in Microsoft Office - some of which the company is ready to monetize, and some it seems reluctant to access. Despite market rumors and consumer demand, for example, there's still no official word on Microsoft Office making the jump to iPad.

Although predictions from Morgan Stanley analyst Morgan Holt suggest a $2.5 billion dollar revenue payday if the productivity suite migrates to Apple, there's speculation that lowered interest in Windows tablets might be an unintended result.

The company already offers some features of Office as native iOS applications, like SharePoint, OneNote and Lync, but Apple users are still stuck with limited, online versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. When asked about full Office for iOS, unit chief Kurt DelBene sidestepped, saying "we've actually done a lot of work on iOS devices this time around. We have enhanced the web applications pretty substantially."

And the Dynamics CRM team has completed an important first stage in its goal of broadening access to CRM via its new iPad-compatible sales interface for Dynamics CRM Online, designed for Safari ...